‘Illegal’ Blackberry Z10 Starts Circulating in Indonesia

While it is now confirmed that the Blackberry Z10 will be widely available in Indonesia at the end of March, there are a few die-hard fans who are not willing to wait that long. So much so that they’re willing to splash out a few more million rupiahs to get their hands on the Z10 about one month earlier than the rest. The technically illegal importation of unreleased, popular handsets is leaving people to wonder if they should wait for one more month or just buy a smuggled Z10 right now.

There have been numerous people selling the Blackberry Z10 illegally through several online marketplaces like Kaskus and TokoBagus. Detik cited a Telkomsel representative last month as saying that the unlocked Z10 will likely be sold via legal channels, upon its launch, at a similar price as the Samsung Galaxy S3, which is about IDR 6.9 million (US$714). But the illegal market is taking a huge chunk of profit by selling the phone at the moment for between IDR 10 million to IDR 15 million ($1,034 to $1,551). That is a 40 percent mark up from the probable retail price open the official launch in the country.

It seems like a handful of the sellers got their Blackberry Z10s from the United Arab Emirates. While some of the vendors disclosed that the merchandises are from UAE, a few of them only mentioned that the phones still have warranties from distributors like Berrindo, Wii, and Qtel. While some other Z10s made their way from Singapore, branding a two year warranty from Immotech.

Another Detik report quoted one of the black market sellers on Friday as saying that the illegal handsets are selling like hot cakes, particularly in Batam city. The illegal pricing might drop this Thursday as Indonesians will have a easier access to smuggle the handsets more openly from next door neighbor Singapore.